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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 225, Part II, 2 December 2003

POSTWAR TRANSFEREES DEMAND COMPENSATION FROM SLOVAK GOVERNMENT. Slovak
Hungarians who were deported or forced to work in Czech lands after
World War II have requested compensation from the Slovak government,
Hungarian news agency MTI reported on 1 December, according to CTK. The
agency quoted the head of an unspecified association of Hungarian
deportees, Miklos Krivanszky, as saying his group "expect[s] the Slovak
government to compensate the Hungarians who were deported or sent as
forced labor to the Czech lands in 1945-48 and their heirs in the same
way as the deportees under the wartime Slovak state in 1939-45."
Krivakszky said his group comprises some 1,000 members, adding that
efforts to elicit a response from Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda
have proven unsuccessful. They will now embark on a letter-writing
campaign to Dzurinda, he said. His group reportedly claims that some
12,000 ethnic Hungarian families, or roughly 50,000 people, were
deported from the Slovak portion of Czechoslovakia following the war.
Many such ethnic Hungarians were transferred from Slovakia for forced
labor in western Czechoslovakia after their expulsion from the country
was rejected by the Allied powers at Potsdam, CTK reported. AH

MACEDONIAN CENSUS RESULTS ANNOUNCED. On 1 December, the Macedonian state
Statistics Agency announced the results of the internationally monitored
census that was carried out in October and November 2002, Macedonian
media reported. According to the agency, the country's overall
population stood at 2,022,547, 64.18 percent of which were ethnic
Macedonians, 25.17 percent ethnic Albanians, 3.85 percent ethnic Turks,
2.66 percent Roma, 1.78 percent Serbs, 0.84 percent Bosnian Muslims,
0.48 percent Vlachs, and 1.04 other ethnic groups. The census results
were eagerly awaited, especially by the Albanian minority. Under the
Ohrid peace accord, which ended the 2001 interethnic conflict, greater
rights are granted to those ethnic minorities that make up more than 20
percent of the population (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 September 2003, and
"RFE/RL Balkan Report," 20 April 2001 and 11 April 2003). UB

UN ADMINISTRATOR CALLS ON SERBS TO APOLOGIZE TO KOSOVARS. Harri Holkeri,
who heads the UN civilian administration in Kosova (UNMIK), told a
conference on tolerance and reconciliation in Belgrade on 1 December
that Serbs should accept that Kosova has become an international
protectorate, dpa reported. He added that Serbian politicians should
stop trying to use Kosova as a "nationalist card" in politics. Holkeri
said "last month, Belgrade leaders apologized to the people in Bosnia
for all tragedies that they went through. A similar mutual assuming of
responsibility for what has happened in Kosovo would greatly reduce
tensions in Serbia and Kosovo." Holkeri noted that the continuing
problems faced by Serbs and other minorities constitute "the greatest
failure in efforts of the international community to make Kosovo a place
where all citizens live safely and with dignity" (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
16 October and 14 November 2003, and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 1 August
and 17 October 2003). PM


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 226, Part II, 3 December 2003

OSCE MEETING ISSUES ACTION PLAN TO COMBAT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ROMA,
SINTI MINORITIES. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council approved an action plan on 2 December
in Maastricht aimed at eradicating discrimination against the Romany and
Sinti minorities, according to an official statement. The plan,
subtitled "For Roma, with Roma," details ways to fight different forms
of discrimination and racism directed against members of these groups.
It deals with issues such as treatment of the Roma and Sinti by police
and in the media, housing and living conditions, unemployment, health
care, and improving access to education. The OSCE's Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) is to take over new
responsibilities, such as assisting OSCE members in developing
antidiscrimination legislation and setting up antidiscrimination bodies,
collecting documentation, and developing policies on Roma-related issues
in cooperation with other OSCE institutions and structures. MS

OSCE COMMISSIONER SAYS LATVIAN MINORITY-EDUCATION REFORM NECESSARY. OSCE
High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ekeus told Latvian Foreign
Minister Sandra Kalniete in Maastricht on 2 December that he considers
the planned reform of minority education in Latvia necessary, BNS
reported. The reform, vigorously opposed by Russian speakers, calls for
increasing the proportion of lessons taught in the Latvian language in
minority schools to 60 percent. Ekeus said he understands Latvia's
requirement that citizens must know the Latvian language, and that the
decision not to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections is an
incentive for naturalization. Kalniete spoke about the planned campaign
by Children and Family Affairs Minister Ainars Bastiks and Society
Integration Minister Nils Muiznieks urging noncitizens to register their
newborn children as Latvian citizens. SG

OSCE ANNUAL MEETING STALEMATED OVER MOLDOVA... The annual meeting of the
OSCE's Ministerial Council closed in Maastricht on 2 December without an
agreement on either the withdrawal of Russian forces from Transdniester
or the fate of the several plans for Moldova's federalization,
international news agencies reported. According to AP, Russia insisted
on a reference to its federalization plan but failed to mobilize the
support of other key OSCE members. OSCE Chairman in Office Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer read a statement saying that "most [foreign] ministers" called
for an international peacekeeping force in Moldova, while Russia said it
"does not consider itself bound by the recommendations and
considerations " of that document. OSCE decisions require consensus, and
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell deplored the participants'
inability to bridge over differences. Powell earlier told the gathering
that the OSCE "must play a vital role in creating a genuinely
international stabilization force, which is essential to a lasting
settlement [in Transdniester]" and that "the internationally mandated
force should be multilateral in character and limited in scope and
duration," Reuters reported. Powell also said Russia's failure to abide
by its obligations to withdraw its forces from Transdniester "is a
setback, though some progress has been made [in that direction]." MS

....WHICH IS DEPLORED BY CHISINAU. The Moldovan delegation headed by
Foreign Minister Nicolae Dudau issued a statement at the end of the
Maastricht meeting saying it supports the declaration made by de Hoop
Scheffer but wishes to express its regret that no consensus could be
reached on the Transdniester conflict and ways to settle it, Infotag
reported. The Moldovan statement said Chisinau had hoped that at
Maastricht the OSCE members would be capable of taking note of the
progress made in 2003 toward a settlement of that conflict and to
welcome the completion of the Russian troop withdrawal from that region
in line with obligations earlier assumed by Moscow. The statement said a
"complete and unconditional withdrawal...as enshrined in the Istanbul
[1999] OSCE summit decision...must be accomplished without any further
delay." MS


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 227, Part II, 4 December 2003

CRIMEAN AUTHORITIES ARRANGE '50-50' DEAL IN LAND ROW BETWEEN TATARS,
LOCALS. The government of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has settled
a conflict between a local Russian-speaking community and a group of
Crimean Tatars who last month seized an 11-hectare plot of land in
southeastern Crimea and began construction work on it, Interfax reported
on 4 December. The Tatars justified their move by accusing local
authorities in the settlement of Partenit near Alushta of being
reluctant to allocate land to Soviet-era deportees. Some of those
deportees have returned to their homeland and unsuccessfully sought to
obtain land plots through legal channels, they said. The seizure of the
land sparked a protest by local residents, who on 3 December blocked
roads around Partenit. The same day, the autonomous Crimean government
convened a meeting with both sides in the dispute and reportedly forced
through a "gentleman's agreement" under which land for construction
purposes around Partenit will be distributed to Tatar returnees and
local residents starting this coming spring on a "50-50" basis. JM

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES RALLY BEHIND PRESIDENT OVER DUAL
CITIZENSHIP. At a 3 December meeting called by opposition Democratic
Forum Chairwoman Ibolya David, Hungary's four parliamentary parties
backed President Ferenc Madl's proposal for granting citizenship to
ethnic Hungarians abroad, "Nepszabadsag" reported. Representatives of
all four parties agreed that legislative experts should formulate
specific recommendations in the wake of the basic principles recently
outlined by Madl. In a statement released on 1 December, Madl said that
simplifying the citizenship procedure for ethnic Hungarians in Serbia
and Croatia would not run into any legal barriers. He said foreign
citizens whose lineage is Hungarian may receive Hungarian citizenship,
even if they have no residency permit and do not want to settle in
Hungary. Free Democrat Istvan Szent-Ivanyi told "Nepszabadsag" after the
meeting that consultations should be held with neighboring countries as
well. That daily recalled that Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic
firmly rejected granting ethnic-based dual citizenship to ethnic
Hungarians living in Serbia when he visited Budapest in October (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 22 October 2003). MSZ